Start with a fishless tank. complete with decor and what not. Add PURE AMMONIA, no scented. When you shake the bottle, it shouldn't suds up. Add enough ammonia to reach 2-3ppm. Now wait....let it do it's job. I believe within 2-3 weeks you should be seeing some nitrite. If ammonia goes down, add more to maintain the 2-3ppm. Once that ammonia disappears overnight and you have a spike in Nitrates, your tank is cycled. Now do a water change to remove the nitrates and add fishys.

fish-in cycling can be harmful to the fish and takes longer to cycle the tank than fishless cycling.
Fish in requires daily water tests and water changes whenever ammonia rears it's ugly head.
With fishless, in the beginning you can test once a week(for 2-3 weeks) and add ammonia when needed. No water changes until ammonia disappears overnight.

Ammonia can be purchased at walmart, grocery stores and even the dollar store. I went through 4 different stores before i finally found a non-sudsing ammonia.